Goodbye "little ear"

Last few moments with my boy's "little ear"...

2 days

Yep, now it's 2 days away...

Thanks for praying along side us for our little guy!

Psalm 28:7 "The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him"

3 days

3 more days until Brennan's surgery...yikes... I'm trusting in God yet still very anxious, nervous, excited, terrified, questioning, wondering, impatient, sleepless, waiting and PRAYING a ton!

Bouncing Blessing

Soooo... it feels like it has been 2 months since the kids have left our house, but it's really only been 5 days... only 6 more to go. I know I may seem paranoid about it, but with the horrible flu and other nasty bugs going around, I just can't chance it. I am doing my best to keep these kids healthy, until B's big day. I'm trying to stay in routine with meals and bedtime. They are eating lots of fruits, veggies and vitamins. I can only really just do my best. It's a little OCD but it's worth it to keep B healthy. So I do ask that you pray with me to keep our sweet little boy healthy until surgery day.

With this being said... the kiddos have a LOT of pent up energy. The weather is freezing so we haven't been in the backyard for a few days. In the house we can only play freeze tag and 'hide and go seek' so many times and if I have to count how many laps they do downstairs it's got to be in the hundreds :)
My friend Nichole has come to the rescue! She let me borrow her bounce house! It's smaller than the huge outdoor ones but it's huge in our house and big enough to entertain the kids for a long time! It's fun for them and helps with their abundant amount of energy from being cooped up in the house.

Thank you Nichole!


A few picts of the fun...

... an action shot!

"The Lord is my Shepherd"

My sweet neighbor sent this to me in an email. It is such an encouragement to me for all the things we are going through as a family.

(From 'Meet me in the Meadow' by Roy Lessin)
"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Psalm 23:1"...

To the lost sheep, He is the seeking Shepherd;
To the needy sheep, He is the providing Shepherd;
To the hurting sheep, He is the comforting Shepherd;
To the bruised sheep, He is the healing Shepherd;
To the anxious sheep, He is the peaceful Shepherd;
To the wandering sheep, He is the guiding Shepherd;
To the fearful sheep, He is the protecting Shepherd;
To the lame sheep, He is the carrying Shepherd;
To the discontented sheep, He is the fulfilling Shepherd;
To the parched sheep, He is the anointing Shepherd;
To the timid sheep, He is the reassuring Shepherd;
To the fallen sheep, He is the merciful Shepherd;
To the nervous sheep, He is the quieting Shepherd;
To the heavy laden sheep, He is the restful Shepherd;
To the lonely sheep, He is the ever-present Shepherd;
To the weary sheep, He is the restoring Shepherd;
To all His sheep, He is the Good Shepherd.

Thank you Nancy for sending me this!

Trying to stay busy

Let's see... the kids have been "stuck at home" for a few days now. It would be a lie if I said I wasn't going "stir crazy." Joel's still in Az but is coming home tomorrow so I'm excited about that! My mom watched the kiddos today so I could get out and go to a couple stores and stock up on things we will need for the next few weeks. So, I'm able to get out here and there a bit but the poor kiddos are home ALL day :)

I sent this picture to Joel... "night night daddy!"


Since I'm keeping the kids "away from the outside world" for over a week (to keep them from getting sick before B's big surgery day), I had this great idea about going to the mall in the morning before the stores open. I went there yesterday and today. Both days I got there and started my walk at 7:45am. It's so nice to be indoors and so peaceful to walk laps in the mall with barely anyone else there... just the cleaners, security, and a few other mall walkers. I probably did 3 miles each day. After my walk we spent a lot of time at the kid's play center... shhhh, it's my little secret.... if you get there before the mall opens, there are no other kids there!.... but don't tell anyone :) It was so fun to let the kiddos run around and play. Since the weather is bad I haven't been able to let them play outside it was nice for them to get some energy out! After that, we made our way to the Starbucks mall for some yummy chocolate milk (B's favorite).

DAY 1:

My walking buddies


Car time (seriously, I do try and get Pnut to put her head down when she smiles)


Chocolate milk time!

My sweet boy!

Cutie Pnut

DAY 2:

crazy kiddos

I hope they don't get spoiled and used to being the only 2 in there

My lil guy!

Attempting a picture with us 3

Here we go!

Car time again!

And yes, chocolate milk again

Throwing pennies in the fountain

Back at home...

...I turn my back for 3 seconds

One of his many floor puzzles. I was actually learning my states as we were doing this one (sad, but so true :)

Yes, shooting darts at the mirror... remember, we are home all day, everyday for a while... I've got to get creative.

If any of you have some fun ideas (crafts, games...) to do with 2 lil ones, I'd love to hear them!

Haircut Time

B got his hair cut today in prep for his next surgery. His hair was just getting to a good length and the curls were coming in so it was sad to see it go. Oh well, it's all worth it!

First of all... isn't she adorable! The boots, dress and vest were all given to me as 'hand me downs' from friends. The blue beenie was B's so I added a flower to "girly" it up!

Ready for the cut

Bye bye hair

Happy boy!

All done!... I think he just aged a couple years too

Pnut's turn!

Hanging with Grandma!

Just the bangs... and she did so good! I expected her to cry but she surprised me and did so well! Maybe it's because B went before her and the cute pink jeep she is sitting in helped!

Typical Pnut smile :)

Enjoying our favorite frozen yogurt after the haircut.